I spent the morning sorting trash at an HIV/AIDS Hospital.
Glamorous huh? Sometimes (most of the time) the World Race isn’t as glamorous as you would think.. Sometimes it looks like sorting paper, plastic, food waste, and other mysterious objects (aka maggots, hair, gauze, etc.) in an HIV/AIDS hospital. I won’t lie and say that I had fun doing this job, it was terrible. My Western mind kept thinking, if they just had separate trash bins, this could all be done in a way that wouldn’t require people to sort through trash cans on a daily basis. My pride said, why did I travel to the opposite side of the world to sort trash?
In the midst of my gaging, I realized that Jesus would have done this awful job everyday. He would have gladly sorted through the maggots and used toothbrushes so that someone else wouldn’t have to. Jesus walked through life looking for opportunities to serve the least of these. He washed the feet of his friends, and loved the people that society deemed unlovable. And he never complained.
Jesus never said that following Him will be glamorous. He never said that it would consist of cool Instagram pictures and crazy adventures. What He did say was to take up your cross and to follow Him. He said leave everything behind, and come do the dirty work for me. This morning He said, “Taylor- come sort through the trash for the people society has labeled as untouchable, because this is what I would do”. He put me in India today to do the work He needed done and reminded me that this is what it looks like to be the hands and feet of Jesus- we put our pride aside, plug our noses and obey Him when He asks us to do the dirty work.
“Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of GOd. If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything.” 1 Peter 9-11
